Daily intel · the levels & walls board · declassified · updated 2026-09-08 01:39 UTC · auto-refresh every ~2 h
The price at which market makers collect the most at settlement while option buyers lose the most — for every expiry. Plus what no aggregator gives you: the walls of open contracts and the market-maker breakeven corridor, read straight from the live crypto option chain. Real Deribit data — not guesses. Below — where the interest flowed over 24h ↓, and our verdict on these levels — every morning at 08:30 in @indiciadesk.
Max pain — the price at which, at settlement, market makers collect the most and holders of bought contracts get the least. Our public verification board shows: a clean “magnet” pull to this exact point is rare (3 of 34), but the anchor effect is real: near these zones price stalls and gets sticky more often than chance.
Walls — strikes with the largest number of open contracts: calls (right) — upside bets, puts (left) — protection and downside bets. Price often stalls near walls.
MM breakeven corridor (the highlighted zone) — a conditional, model-based range: while price stays inside it, the premium market makers collected still covers the payouts. A break outside = the machines are losing money — their own hedging starts to amplify the move, and that is where a correction can snowball into a crash, and a bounce into a vertical melt-up.
The current max pain for BTC is $72 000, based on 181 294 open interest contracts expiring 25 Sep 26. Spot is $79 307 — 10.1% above max pain. Snapshot 01:39 UTC, Deribit option chain.
| date | max pain | MM breakeven | put wall | call wall | OI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08 Sep 26 | 79 500 | 78 500–81 000 | 78 500 | 82 000 | 2 246 |
| 09 Sep 26 | 79 500 | 76 000–81 500 | 77 500 | 81 000 | 5 377 |
| 11 Sep 26 | 78 000 | 73 000–82 000 | 73 000 | 81 000 | 26 816 |
| 18 Sep 26 | 79 000 | 72 000–84 000 | 72 000 | 82 000 | 11 496 |
| 25 Sep 26 | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• |
| 30 Oct 26 | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• |
| 27 Nov 26 | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• |
| 25 Dec 26 | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• |
| 26 Mar 27 | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• |
| 25 Jun 27 | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• |
The current max pain for ETH is $2 150, based on 723 427 open interest contracts expiring 25 Sep 26. Spot is $2 499 — 16.2% above max pain. Snapshot 01:39 UTC, Deribit option chain.
| date | max pain | MM breakeven | put wall | call wall | OI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08 Sep 26 | 2 480 | 2 440–2 520 | 2 100 | 2 580 | 25 277 |
| 09 Sep 26 | 2 480 | 2 380–2 540 | 2 340 | 2 700 | 8 251 |
| 11 Sep 26 | 2 450 | 2 300–2 600 | 2 200 | 2 800 | 99 576 |
| 18 Sep 26 | 2 500 | 2 250–2 800 | 2 200 | 2 800 | 57 721 |
| 25 Sep 26 | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• |
| 30 Oct 26 | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• |
| 27 Nov 26 | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• |
| 25 Dec 26 | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• |
| 26 Mar 27 | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• |
| 25 Jun 27 | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• | ••• |
where big money moved its open positions — from our own hourly archive
📍 Now: biggest call inflow — 80k (+812 contracts) · puts — 74k (+1 632) · biggest outflow — 71k. Snapshot 2026-09-07 7:00 UTC.
How to read: bars up — an inflow of new positions at a strike over 24h, down — closures. Blue calls at strikes above spot = bets on an upside break; orange puts below — protection being built. A large inflow into a single strike = someone is building a position. Hover for exact contracts.
📍 Now: biggest call inflow — 3800 (+59 224 contracts) · puts — 2500 (+2 565). Snapshot 2026-09-07 7:00 UTC.
How to read: bars up — an inflow of new positions at a strike over 24h, down — closures. Blue calls at strikes above spot = bets on an upside break; orange puts below — protection being built. A large inflow into a single strike = someone is building a position. Hover for exact contracts.
📍 Now: BTC 0.55 (percentile 15 of history: bottom of the range — little protection, upside bets dominate) · ETH 0.55 (percentile 69 of history: middle of the range).
How to read: how many downside insurances (puts) stand per one upside bet (call) in open positions — what is the put/call ratio. Above one — protection dominates; a sharp rise in the ratio = the market is buying insurance en masse, a sharp fall = greed. Hover for values on a date; the “Spot” buttons overlay price.
📊 Data — from Deribit (options) and Hyperliquid (futures). Both venues are our partners: signing up through our links gets you −10% / −4% off fees; it does not affect the analysis.
We compute max pain ourselves (coin-terms, the same algorithm as our public verification board — where the pure “magnet” hit only 3 times out of 34, while the anchor effect is confirmed). Walls = strikes with the largest open interest within ±28% of spot. A journal of the system’s decisions, not investment advice. © 2026 INDICIA DESK.